Glass feeders are generally provided on the end of an elongated forehearth channel where molten glass is heated and conveyed to a feeder bowl for the formation of gobs of glass which are then directed to the several molding sections of a glassware forming machine. The bowl itself is generally mounted on fixed structure at the discharge end of the glass forehearth and vertically reciprocable plungers are provided in the feeder bowl to issue glass gobs from orifices defined in an orifice plate supported at the outlet spout of the feeder bowl. A typical installation includes one or more vertically reciprocable plungers operated in timed relationship with shears and other components of the feeder so as to control the manner in which the gobs are formed for gravity feed to the various individual sections of a typical glassware forming machine. Each plunger is generally aligned axially above an associated orifice in the orifice plate provided in the bowl spout, and shears are provided to assure that the successively formed gobs are individually separated from one another so as to be fed to the appropriate molds in the sections of the glassware forming machine. The operation of the forming machine is such that the shears and the feeder are synchronized with the various mechanisms so that all these mechanisms operate cyclically in accordance with a predetermined timing sequence.
Each plunger includes a lower end portion fabricated from a refractory material and an upper portion that includes individual plunger chuck and plunger support structure that is adapted to support each of the plungers in a slot provided for this purpose in a plunger carrier disk. A refractory tube surrounds the plungers inside the feeder bowl and is used to shut down the flow of molten glass to the outlet when the feeder is to be interrupted in its operation, and this refractory tube generally rotates so as to improve the flow of glass between the bottom end of the tube and the feeder bowl outlet spout adjacent to the orifice plate. The tube is also made of a refractory material as is the orifice plate defining the orifices for the plungers. The above-identified pending application is incorporated by reference herein as is a further application entitled "Molten Glass Spout Bowl Refractory Tube Support Mechanism", filed Sept. 27, 1984 in the names of John E. Suomula, Kenneth L. Bratton, Sten E. Bergsten, Nicholas N. Savic, and E. Boyd Gardner also assigned to the assignee herein.
The first above mentioned copending patent application deals with an improved plunger operating mechanism wherein a reversible electric motor is connected to drive a plunger support in a cyclically reciprocating manner, and wherein a programable control means operably coupled to the motor causes such oscillation between predetermined limits and according to a predetermined motion profile. The plunger support bracket is cantilevered so that the reversible motor operates between it and fixed structure associated with the frame provided at the discharge end of the glass forehearth. The plunger support bracket mounting means is capable of being adjustably positioned so that the plungers can be moved in a horizontal plane (in an X and a Y direction) relative to the spout bowl and so that the plungers can be moved vertically relative to the orifices provided for this purpose in the orifice plate itself (the Z direction).
In order to set up the plungers in a feeder of the type described above eye-bolts are provided in the top of each plunger support structure so that the plungers can be lowered into place through enlarged openings provided for this purpose in the plunger carrier disk, which disk is in turn clamped into a receptacle defined for it in a plunger holder defined in the bracket. Each plunger must be manipulated so as to align its lower end with one of the orifices in the orifice plate provided for this purpose in the lower end of the feeder bowl outlet or spout. The process of aligning and orienting the plungers is a time consuming one, and one which can lead to extended downtimes in the feeder itself. Since one feeder serves several machines, each with individual glassware forming machine sections in the typical glassware plant it is advantageous to provide a means for assembling the plunger or plungers in a plunger carrier disk such that the disk can be quickly mounted in the plunger holder after being initially set up in a bench jig or framework so that none of these time consuming adjustments and manipulations lead to feeder downtime as at present required. The present invention seeks to provide a method and apparatus for achieving this purpose.